“[I see that] you read your question. Did you prepare it in advance, or did someone recommend it to you?”

Danila Prilepa:

“Life prepared me for this question.”

On June 15, during Vladimir Putin’s live call-in show, where the president answered questions for four hours from a studio audience and from Russians around the country, a high school student from Nefteyugansk named Danila Prilepa asked him about corruption and Russia’s apparently ineffective judicial response. Before answering, the president seemed to express suspicion that a person so young could have a genuine interest in this subject. Putin then reaffirmed the government’s fight against corrupt officials, citing the recent verdict against former Federal Penitentiary Service head Alexander Reimar, who was sentenced to eight years in prison for fraud.